Method of mending burlap bags



Jan. 29, 1935. G. 1. GOLDWYN METHOD OF MENDING BURLAP BAGS Filed May 25,1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 29, 1935. s. ITGOLDWYN Filed May 25, 1933 2Sheets-Sheet 2 wkk Patented Jan. 29, 1935 UNITED. STATES M THO -9FMENDING 3mm Bliss V George I. Goldwyn, ql icago, 141.. Application Ma y25,1933, SerialNo. 612,782 a This invention relates to improvements inmethods-of mending burlap bags, and it consists of the mattershereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in'theiappendedclaims. The present application is a continuation; at least in part, ofmy copending application, Serial No. 581,821 filed December 18, 1931.

Heretofore used burlap bags and especially those having holes torn orworn therein, were considered as waste. Large establishments have grownup making a specialty of reconditioning such bags for further use, bycleaning and patching such bags.

Burlap baggin is a relatively loose woven fabric of jute and the ends ofthe warp and weft threads thereof, at the edges of a hole or patch, tendto slough ofi as lint. .When a patch is appliedto such a hole and issecured thereto by a line of stitching, this line of stitching must bespaced well from theedge of the hole and well within the edges of thepatch, otherwise, the stitches. tend to pull through the bagging orpatch when the bag is again used. It is apparent that such a patched bagmust present a somewhat unsightly appearance .and is no stronger thanthe stitching employed to secure the 7 patch in .place. Therefore, a socalled patched bag is only used for the [lower grades of merchandise. cI

The primary object of the present invention. is to provide an improvedmethod'of mending burlap bags, whereby the ,mend, is much stronger thanthe bag material itself and is not onlys lbstantially. invisible but maybemade less time than it takes to apply a patch, sothat the mended bagin all appearances, hardl recognizable as a reconditioned-used bag. Y

Another object of the inventionis'to provide a method of mendingiusedbags which is practical in commercial use in that it can be carried outby power driven, industrial sewingniachine's, wherein a plurality ofneedle threads are .employed in connection with a single'bobbin thread,and which threads form a lock-stitch, a line of which is first runaround the holeand .then backand forth in all directions, providingamend of network character, whereinthemultiple threadstitches areinterlocked or interwoven with each other and with the margin of the bagmaterial about the holeor worn spot to. providea mend of a finer andstronger weave than the bagmaterial itself. v Still anotherobiect of theinvention to provide a .machineby which the improved metho maybereadilycarried out, i,

'iheabm'e men ioned objects o th inv nt as well as others,'together withthe many .[ad vantages thereof,, will more .i' lly a pe r as I proceedwithlmy speciflcation. Y I

In the d -awingsf Fig, 1'is; a perspectivej'view m nded, in m thod; 1 H1 ig. zg sa, elevationie a po on a burlanbag'ha n'g a h e here na i utrates certain; i tn st st psint mend ng of s d .i I

Fig, 3115a. vi wh m a t, F gllu rating urthen t p f n t e ending o th bg? F r is; a plerspei'ctive 'view on an e lar ed Scaleof the'prefe redn. p tr, stitc ng. e p oyed in m m roved method f mend ng burlap bags..F e, 5 persp ctive view oi, the ne dle bar head; and ssoc at dfb d.atep s of a mahine by whichy hef mp ved me hod b ca ri dhut with the Prse oo the of, down and the n edle b u obetter sh w he di position ofthe'n'eedles; r U i 6 is a detail sectional i w hrou h a pa t o ,t'jznachnie o anjenl i ed sca l a e on. thelinej 6- o t Fi and. showsmoparticularly 'th [p sit on o t e shutt wh n t e needle bar isinii s uppositien; .Fisjs'ay wt im lartc g 6 wi h he par ordance' .with my,improved in. achan 'ed elat n; nd

ig. 81s a, pe pe i vie n'an en a eetlsca e of a c nv n iona s w ng ahine edle.

burlap bags is best carried cut with the .aid of anind s rialsewineniachn emp oy ng a s n le bobbin thread and two needle threads connected tether as alcckstitch, S ch a machin i preierably of t elos i t nihuttleg pe a d the eedle a edi p ed in elat ve y c o e tandemfashior'i, in front of'and behind the ax s of the asso iated needle bar.

Iflhe eye nt e ro eedleis', a anged at an 'eleva ionhelow that o t e eyein th ea ne d e- Theh ok 'i thelshu n e osci lati of the latt m vesunwaitdlyf om the r a and .clockwiset wa dith o r tor n its needle tread loops enga ng positien Just aft r e n dles sta their. astent; T eeeii th ho k mov in the other'direction away from the operator tolcomplete, tl,r e sti t -,v y a an in th ye o position to ec ive he shut e hook as it pas es item, the rearneedle towa d; the f ont n ed eof athat as,

such holes isindicated at The machine is provided with a peculiarlyshaped presser foot having a rounded bottom to eliminate all corners oredges and furthermore, as the bag being mended is manually fed back andforth and laterally in both directions, the machine is devoid of theconventional or other type of feed dog.

Should only a single needle thread be employed in connection withasingle bobbin thread in making a mend, in the shifting; of the'bagfabric beneath the presser-root, the tendency is to pull the thread fromthe needle with the result that longer and looser stitches are formed,and these" stitches being under diiferent'tensions;jiwill ins-g;variably pucker.

Both needle threads and thebbbbiithreaid must be much finer than the;warp; and weft/sf threads of the bag material, but should be of cottonor linen (preferably the former,-due to cost) of a color approximatingsclose as practicalthat of thebag material, which i'sfsubstantially astraw color. Such a thread is much stronger thanthe warp and weftthreads of the bag. fabric or material and permits of use of finerneedles which'may be run at great speed. Again, such finer threads willnot lint, and feed easier through the needles without breakage, and.with the finer needles, the tendency-to needle-cut other threadsalready in the mend, is avoided, as the needles wilLm'ore readily passbetween such threads, than through said threads. When that part of thebag material having' the hole 'or worn spot therein, is passed back andforth in all directions beneath the presser foot, a baselnet-work, webor weave of interconnected triple thread stitch is produced. In thefurther movement of the .bag material, theinterstices between the basicnet-work or web of stitches are gradually closed up until the mend iscompleted, which completedmend is flat, even and n'on-puckery'andsubstantially defies detection and is indeed much stronger than the bagmaterial itself. I l

Referringnow in detail to that embodiment of the invention,"illustratedin the :drawings:

1 indicates as a whole a burlap bag. made from a piece 'of burlap of thedesired area folded upon itself to provide thetwo'walls 2-1-2 of the bagstitched along one side margin and end to provide thebag, openat oneendQIn the rough handling to which burlap bags are subjected in use,holes and thin worn spots or areas of different sizes and shapesdevelop. In Fig. 2 one of 3 For carrying outthe m ethod, I have producedan improved sewing machine l arrangement such as shown in Figs. 5, .6;and '7 and capable of using two, needle, threads 4--4 and a single,bobbin thread 5, allof said threads cooperating toform a lock stitch.

v Thisarrangement is more particularly concerned with the presser foot,needle'and shuttle inechanismall other parts of the machine. being ofconventional form. Inmak'ing' the mend, as the bagis moved manually inall directions in a horizontal plane forwardly and rearwardly as wellassidewise with respect to the plane of the needles, the feed dog iseliminated as unnecessary,

As shown inthe drawings fi indicates'the bed plate. of the sewingmachine and 7 indicates the usual head on the end of the overhanging arm8.

bar 9, that carries a presserfoot 10st its bottom end. This presser footwhich is substantially of the conventional type 'with the needles offsetin crescent shaped, is curved from front to rear and has upturned sideflanges 11 so as to present a smooth rounded bottom to the bag fabric inits movement in the various directions manually imparted thereto. Alever 12 is provided at the rear of the head whereby the presser footmay be lowered into and raised out of operative engagement with respectto a shuttle covering plate 13 removably secured in the bed plate. InFig. 5, an opening is shown. in theibed plate towards its end, whichopeningis closed by a suitable cover when the machine is being operated.14 indicates a vertically reciprocating needle bar suitably: arranged inthe head. The bottom end of said bar carries a clamp 15 to receive intandem fashion, front and rear needles 16 and 1'? respectively. ,Eachneedle which is generally as shown in Fig. 8 has a piercing-' point 13at its bottom extremity and an eye 19 a suitable distance above thesame. In one sideof the shank of the needle is a thread groove 20 whichopens into. one end of the eye. The bottom end 'of the other side of theshank is a cutawayjas at 21, to accommodate the shuttle hookinf itsstitch forming movement past the needle." i

Below the plate 13 in the bed plateis located a shuttle22 thatismounted. in the conventional manner in a sh ttle race and which shuttleis osicilla'tedin'race about a horizontal axis, disposed longitudinallyOfj lthC bed plate; The shuttle substantially surrounds the usual case24 which encloses the bobbin 23 for the thread 5 and this shuttleincludes a pointed hook 22?.

It is apparent that in the oscillation of the shuttle'in its race thepoint of its hook, travels back and forth in a path concentric with itsaxis and preferably this axis is located in the plane of the needle bar.As the needles are disposed in planes in front of and behind of the axisof the needle bar, said needles are so set that the eye of the frontneedle is disposed at an elevation below that of the eye of. the rearneedle. This difference in eye elevation may be accomplished in twodifferent ways. One needlemay be ofa greaterlength than the other sothat when fully inserted into the front socket in the clamp, its eye isdisposed at the lower elevation. Again, both needles may be identical.With such needles, the front one iss lamp- In the operation of themachine, the needles on their descent pass through the fabric of a bagwall 2 and carry their respective. threads 4-4 ,therethrough. In theinitial part of their as- -cent,a thread loop is formed in each needlethread between its, eye andfthe bag wall. In each clockwise part of themovement of the shuttle as viewed in Fig. 7, its hook passes throughboth needle thread loops and then moves counterclockwise.

While-the needle bar and shuttle movement is extremely fast, therelative elevated position ing of the eyes in the needle provides a lagin the loop formation of both needles. This insures the presence of aloop in the thread of the front needle for the shuttle hook to gothrough after passing. through the loop of the thread of the rearneedle. j

This arrangement'is quite important because tandem fashion, the throughthe thread loop shuttle hook as it passes Vertically disposed saidheadis a pre'sserfoot -of the rear needle is moving clockwise and upwardlytoward the perpendicular plane of its axis and after passing said plane,it is moving downt further down in the wardly. It is apparent that ifthe front needle thread loop was not in a position to receive the hook,the hook could not coact with the front needle in the making of a lockstitch having the two needle or upper threads and the single bobbin orunder thread.

As is apparent from Fig. 5, the machine is provided with the usualtensioning and feed devices. These devices are so formed as toindividualize each thread from its own supply spool to the associatedneedle. With this arrangement, tangling of the threads is avoided.

In mending a hole in a bag 1 that part of the bag wall having the holetherein is positioned upon the bed plate of the machine from its end,under the presser foot. If an area of the bag has been worn thin and itis desired to reinforce the same, this area would be operated upon inthe same manner. In thus positioning said bag wall part, the operatorgrasps said bag part with both hands and somewhat tightening orstretching the material in a plane laterally and to both sides of thepresser foot with the result that under the stretch of said material inthe mending of a hole, the hole takes on a rather elongated shape, asshown in Fig. 2. An outline stitch 25 is then run around the hole at asuitable distance therefrom and when such an outline stitch has beenfinished and without breaking the threads, it is continued back andforth across the hole in the plane of its shortest dimension beginningfrom one end thereof as best shown at 26 in Fig. 2.

This is carried out by moving the bag wall toward and away from theoperator and at the same time employing a lateral movement so that saidstitches zig zag across the hole. When the other end of said hole hasbeen reached, the bag is moved laterally back and forth so that thelines 27 of stitches are zig zagged lengthwise of the hole. It isdesirable that the turns 28 of said lines of stitches all be made inthat part of the bag fabric within the outline stitch, which acts as asort of visible guide within which the other stitches should be kept.Should the zig zag stitches run beyond the outline stitch no particularharm results. In laying in the stitches mentioned, those lines ofstitching running length wise of the hole, of course, cross or intersectthose running in the other direction and at said intersections, bothlines of stitches are in themselves interlocked to provide a net orweb-like base as best shown in Fig. 3.

Thereafter, the bag is moved back and forth in any direction as happensto suit the operators fancy, until the lines of stitching thus laid inintersect with companion lines of stitches to fill up the interstices inthe web-like base. This laying in of the lines of stitchings iscontinued until the entire area of the holes or worn spot is covered tofinish the mend.

The mend thus made constitutes crossing and recrossing lines of triplethread stitches with the needle or upper threads arranged side by side.

These triple thread stitches are interconnected with each otherthroughout the entire area within the outline stitch with a stitch-like.weave which has a resistance to wearing and tearing strains greater thanthat of the surrounding bag material.

Thus with a plurality of needle threads and only a single bobbin thread,a much stronger and flatter mend is produced over the use of a singleneedle thread and single bobbin thread and coverage is increased withresulting benefits.

While in describing the invention, I have referred in detail to acertain sequence in the steps employed in the improved method butthis'is to be considered merely as illustrative so that I do not wish tobe limited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in theappended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with the desired area of burlap bagging havingrelatively coarse warp and weft threads, a mend therefor, comprising aplurality of closely adjacent lines of lock stitching extending back andforth across said area and including a bobbin thread looking at leasttwo needle threads laid side by side, said lines of stitching passingnot only through certain threads of the bagging but also through eachother so as to connect said lines of stitching to said bagging and toeach other.

2. A method of mending burlap bagging having relative coarse warp andweft threads on a machine having a plurality of parallel needlescooperating with a single bobbin, said method comprising formingadjacent lines of lock stitching back and forth across a desired areain-said bagging having a hole therein, and which lock stitching includesa plurality of needle threads arranged substantially side by side and asingle bobbin thread locking at least two needle threads together, andthen moving the bagging back and forth relative to the plane of the axesof the needles carrying the needle threads in directions other than thatin the line of said plane and thereby completing said mend.

3. The method of mending burlap bagging on a machine having a pluralityof parallel needles cooperating with a single bobbin, said methodcomprising forming adjacent lines of lock stitching across a desiredarea in said bagging having a hole therein, the lock stitching includinga pair of needle threads, and a single bobbin thread that locks said twoneedle threads together, said needle threads being arrangedsubstantially side by side, and then moving the bagging relative to theplane of the axes of the two needles carrying the needle threads indirections other than that in the line of said plane so as to pass thevarious lines of stitching through the warp and weft of the bagging aswell as through each other to form a mending weave of interconnectedlines of such stitching.

GEORGE I. GOLDWYN.

